New Look

Thanks, Todd! We love the new header.

My Sleepy Guy

Yesterday after the nurse started Nathan's IV hydration we took a walk downstairs to the library. We were reading a fun animal story, but he looked like he was about to fall asleep. Then I remembered that they also pre-medicated Nathan with benedryl and cortisone, which makes him pretty sleepy. He still had an allergic reaction, so they gave him more cortisone, and then that did the trick. He's having a good day today. Now he'll have a two-week break from the chemo, and his next MRI will be in two weeks on Feb. 11th.

This week I had the chance to speak with a mom in Calif. who is also a pediatrition. Her son has a brain tumor, too. It was encouraging to hear that we are doing very similar things with nutrition and supplementation, and that her son is doing well in spite of the chemo. We shared the frustration with feeling like meenies when we make our boys eat and take things they need, but don't want, and having to balance that with just letting them be kids. At least Daddy gets to be the nice guy.

What Goes Around.....

Just thought I'd let you see this before I put it in storage until next Christmas. This was the White Elephant Gift Exchange gift I "won." It came with a note that said, "The "green" way to listen to music! " The funniest thing was watching Aaron crank all-out and it still played the tape in sloooow motion. How many of these high-tech gadgets do you think the company sold before going out of business?

Watch out, this may be comin' around next gift exchange.

Little Larson

One year ago our friend's baby Larson was born, and lived for 23 hours. Early on in her pregnancy they knew that Larson would either die before being born, or die shortly after being born, but Corie carried and loved this baby for 9 months. He only had a brain stem, and yet when he was born, he cried, cooed, looked just like his brothers, and gave glory to God. Larson was born on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.



Corie and Steve have been amazing examples to us of trusting in God. Click on The Obrien Family blog to watch a video of Larson's life. You have to see this.

A Bump In The Road- Now What?

Yesterday at the oncology clinic we shared a room with Justin (Nathan's almost twin), who had brought his iPod dog. Justin was dancing around like he was doing a Tae Bo routine, and I kept hoping he wouldn't yank out his IV from his mediport. Then they made play-doh creations with the sweet, but lonely craft lady.

Then after the first hour of IV hydration they started Nathan's chemo, as usual. After 15 minutes a nurse noticed a hive on his neck, then said to call the doctor and stop the chemo drip. He started having a reaction in his throat. They gave him IV benadryl and had to observe him for a while before going on with the treatment. We were there most of the day.

When we had first met with the doctor months ago he had told us that lot of patients develop an allergy to the chemo after about 8 or 9 months into the treatment, and if they have to change to different drugs they are "more troublesome." So 4 months into it is early, and was a concern to the doctor. Now they will give him benadryl and cortisone before the chemo, and hope he tolerates it. If not, we pray for wisdom to know what to do for him.

Celebrating Inauguration Day With A BANG

Inauguration Day was also emancipation day around here. Moments after Obama said, "I will" (or something like it) there was a big crash and bang upstairs. Nathan decided to uncover the birds' cage since his sister, who shall remain nameless, has been neglecting them. The whole cage came crashing down, and the birds went free. At that moment, with all the mess, I secretly wished they would have flown out the door. But we somehow got them back in their cage unharmed.

Nathan said he expected us to be mad about the new president, since he has heard a lot of discussion the last few months. We have been telling the kids that now that Obama is our president, the Bible says we are to honor him for his position, and pray for him, even if we don't always agree with him. And that's what we will try to do.

A Good Bro

Nathan made (embellished) these handy coin purses for his sisters at chemo yesterday. And he and I got a good chunk of school lessons done too. Even though the higher dose of the drug did give him jaw pain for a few days last week, the doctor said he just has to live with it. After all, we are trying to shrink the brain tumor.

"Um, Nathan, you know we just throw snow balls, not ice balls, right?"

Are You Listening?

Nathan said, "Why do you say 'uh-huh' when you didn't even listen to what I asked you?"

Ouch. Kids are sharp. They KNOW when we aren't listening to them. I want to have that same attentiveness, the same savoring of every precious minute that I had in the hospital back in September. I don't want everyday busyness and distractions to crowd that out.

Moms - let's look into our children's faces and LISTEN. Maybe no one else needs a reminder, but I do.

Today as Nathan and I drove to and from speech therapy we got to talk... about adoption, drug addicts, buffalos, and Jesus dying on the cross to take our punishment. This is an answer to prayer, that Nathan has more spiritual awareness now than before his tumor diagnosis. Before, he might have been some kid from Afghanistan who never heard the Bible.

But we've got a long way to go. Last month Aaron asked Nathan a "teaching" question: "If I went to the grocery store but didn't have enough money to pay for this chicken, what would be wrong if I just put it in my pocket and walked out of the store?" Nathan's answer: "Because you would get your pocket dirty."

Buddy Day

Dania got to come along with us to the Children's Hospital today. I thought we could cram in some school lessons with her and Nathan, and also thought he would be a little more chipper with her there.

Picture Nathan and Dania with a backpack on her back happily running along the path in front of the hospital. It looked like they were trying to catch the school bus. The nurse thought he was more "out of his shell" with Dania there. The two week break allowed Nathan to put on some weight, and he also got a little taller. This time the doctor decided to put him back on the full dose of one of the chemo drugs.(He had only had the full dose the very first time, but they reduced it to half because it gave him jaw pain.) He wants to see if Nathan tolerates it better now, and so far he seems to be doing o.k.

Justin, the boy who's the same age as Nathan, was there, and his mom says his tumor seems to be under control. Another 5 year old boy was in the room next to us. Isn't that odd?

We did get a little school work in. Nathan seems to be learning better now - maybe it's just his age, or maybe its his new and improving brain. Dania says she had fun, but she'd like it better if they had Jello next time.

New Year's MRI Results

No tears, no problems until the technician told Nathan about the poke. They were going to have to inject a dye halfway thru the MRI to get a different picture. (Had I known, I would have put numbing cream on his mediport and they could do the injection that way.) So he started crying a little. Then she said that the DVD wasn't working in this room, so he would have to lie still with nothing to look at for 45 minutes. But, thankfully, the other room became available, so he could watch a video. He did great holding still, and I did my best to give him a good foot massage. The hardest thing was that it took three pokes to find the vein, and it hurt.

The doctor showed us the before and after pictures of his brain. The pictures from Sept. before and after the surgery showed the tumor being squashed first by the egg-sized cyst pressing on it, and then by the swelling after the surgery, so we didn't have a good idea of the exact size of the tumor. The doctor called it "an unhappy brain" because everything was shifted over from the pressure. Yesterday's picture was one of a "happy brain" because everything was where it should be, except the tumor. On paper the tumor looks about the size of a grape, and we could see two clear areas in the middle about the size of a BB gun shot where the tumor has died off. So it's not exactly shrinking in diameter yet, but it's dying from the inside out. We were thankful to see some change. The doctor wants to do another MRI in 6 weeks instead of the usual three months because yesterday's picture gave us more of a true baseline to compare to.

Nathan has been bright-eyed and energetic and happy during this 2 week break from chemo. Please pray for continued healing, for the rest of his body to be protected from chemical poisoning, and for all of our spiritual growth.

Here he is today playing a horse pulling a heavy load. Happy New Year!